ABSTRACT

Introduction: obesity/overweight (O/O) is the basis of the leading causes of general mortality in Mexico: ischemic heart disease and type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (2DM). The lipid triad, associated with O/O, is the most common type of dyslipidemia in our country. We analyzed the lipid profiles of a large sample of the contemporary urban population of Mexico City. Material and methods: sixty-eight thousand participants comprised this cohort. The clinical status, reason for the study, and whether the patient was being treated were not recorded. Total Cholesterol (TC), TriGlycerides (TG), and High-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels were measured spectrophotometrically. Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL-c) and non-HDL levels, and the risk ratios TC/HDL-c, LDL-c/HDL-c, and TG/HDL-c were calculated. The classification criteria were based on ATP III and European guidelines. The mean values and quartile distributions of all lipids and lipoproteins were estimated and stratified by sex. Results: the TC values were above the cut-off. The TG values were significantly higher than this. The HDL-c levels in both sexes remained close to the lower limit. The LDL-c levels were between 100 and 130 mg/dL in both men and women. Non-HDL-c levels never reached a cut-off of 160 mg/dL. The LDL-c/HDL-c index was below it. Interestingly, the TG/HDL-c values were above the cut-off limit. Conclusions: hypertriglyceridemia, caused by abdominal obesity, is the most critical lipid abnormality in the Mexican population. TG/HDL-c is a readily available, inexpensive risk marker that should be used routinely.

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